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9
SECTION E.—INSPECTION AND SUPERVISION OF FOOD.
Milk Supply.—There are 154 premises from which milk is sold. Inspections made numbered 246.
During the year 37 applications under the Milk (Special Designations) Regulations, 1936-1943, were received from
15 milk purveyors and licences were granted as follows: 1 pasteurising, 18 dealers' and 3 supplementary in the case of
pasteurised milk; 1 bottling, 12 dealers' and 2 supplementary in respect of tuberculin tested milk.
The average composition of the 124 samples of milk analysed was: total solids, 12.51%; fat, 3.68%; solids not
fat, 8.83%. No sample was found to be below standard.
At the request of the Ministry of Food, 80 samples of milk, taken from two authorised wholesale firms operating
heat-treatment plants, were submitted to the tests prescribed for the various designations. The Ministry's Area Milk
Officer was advised of the results, which were satisfactory except in the case of one sample of sterilised milk which failed
to pass the phosphatase test. Twenty-one other samples of milk examined bacteriologically were found to comply
with the requisite standards.
Meat and other Foods—Unsound Food.—Some 6 tons of food condemned as unfit for human consumption included
the following: meat (including bacon and rabbits), 2 tons 4 cwts.; fish, 13 cwts. 3 qtrs. 20 lbs.; fruit, 5 cwts. 2 qtrs.
5 lbs.; vegetables, 1 cwt. 2 qtrs.; cereals, 2 cwts. 3 qtrs. 16 lbs.; canned goods, 5,447 tins; miscellaneous, 7 cwts. 1 qtr.
Practically all this unsound food was salvaged and diverted to other uses.
Slaughterhouse.—The only licensed slaughterhouse in the Borough is that at the Zoological Society's premises in
Regent's Park. The slaughtering done in normal times is for the food for the animals in the gardens and humane
killers are used. Three inspections were made. One licence to slaughter or stun animals, granted to skilled slaughtermen,
was renewed.
Food Premises.—At the end of 1945, 109 premises were registered for the preparation or manufacture of foods (other
than ice cream) intended for sale, and 271 inspections were made.
Ice Cream Premises.—The number of premises on the register was 73; 81 inspections were made.
Butter and Margarine Premises.—At the end of the year there were on the register 16 dealers in margarine,
1 wholesale dealer in milk-blended butter and 2 butter manufacturers. Forty-five inspections were made.
Bakehouses.—Number on register—25, 19 being basement bakehouses; 76 inspections were made.
Fried Fish Vendors and Fish Curers.—The number of premises used by vendors of fried fish is 8 and by fish
curers 3. Thirty-eight inspections of fried fish shops and 25 inspections of fish curers' premises were carried out.
Restaurants, etc.—Premises in which meals are provided or food is sold already cooked or is prepared for sale numbered
426, including resturant and dining-room kitchens, 375, hotel kitchens, 51: 958 inspections were made and 58 notices
served.
Horseflesh.—Thirty-six visits were paid to two shops selling horseflesh for human food.
Bacteriological Examinations.—Apart from milk, one sample each of egg powder, ice cream, and tinned salmon
were examined bacteriologically and found to contain no food poisoning organisms.
Food and Drugs Act, 1938.—Samples taken under the Act numbered 700 (52 formal, 648 informal) and included:
milk 124, butter 91, margarine 61. The sum paid in respect of each analysis was 15s. 0d., except in the case of sausages
for which the fee was £1 Is. Od. per sample. Twenty-one samples reported as adulterated or otherwise giving rise to
irregularity are referred to by the Public Analyst (Mr. Thomas McLachlan) in the following report: " The percentage
of adulterated samples this year is slightly lower than in 1944, being 3.0 per cent., as compared with 3.6 per cent, last
year, but this is still higher than in earlier years. Four samples (1 informal, 3 formal) of so-called sherry and sherry-type
wine had not been prepared from grape juice, and it is satisfactory to note that the Ministry of Food has now issued an
order amending the Labelling of Food (No. 2) Order, 1944, by which the composition and alcoholic strength of these
so-called wines must be declared. Two samples (1 informal, 1 formal) of " blackcurrant nectarean linctus " were merely
artificial jellies with artificial colour and flavour and without any sugar, whereas a blackcurrant linctus should be a
thick syrupy preparation made from blackcurrant juice and sugar and containing a high proportion of vitamin C.
Four informal samples of malt vinegar were found to contain small proportions of salt, which is added as a preservative,
but which is not a normal constituent of vinegar. The practice of adding salt was adopted in certain vinegar breweries
as a result of the air-raids on London, and the Ministry of Food is enquiring into the necessity of the practice being
continued or the advisability of a notice l?eing placed on the label. It is the opinion of your Analyst that the presence
of added salt must definitely be declared now under the Labelling of Food (No. 2) Order, 1944. Among other practices
which have crept in during the war is the adulteration of pepper, and an informal sample of " compound pepper " was
received for examination; the composition was wheat flour 75 per cent., cayenne pepper 15 per cent., and black pepper
10 per cent. Similarly, owing to the shortage of meat, many restaurants have been selling horseflesh without a notice
being displayed in shops to inform their customers; two such samples (informal) were condemned. It is a common
practice to smear horseflesh with flour immediately on receipt in order to make its identification more difficult, and it is
also frequently soaked in vinegar in order to remove the slightly sweet taste natural to horseflesh and by which some
people can detect it. It has for many years been the general custom in this country to describe " compound tincture of
rhubarb "as" tincture of rhubarb," although this has never been an official description. With the passing of the
Pharmacy and Medicines Act, 1941, it is now illegal to sell a medicine under any but an official description unless the
names and quantities of the active ingredients are given. Adverse comment was therefore made on one informal
sample on this account, and your Analyst sent a letter to the Pharmaceutical Journal as a result of which the term
"tincture of rhubarb" may be given as an alternative synonym in the next Pharmacopoeia. A formal sample of
chocolate oublis and one informal sample each of oatmeal, dried milk, baking powder, sauce, gelatine, and aromatic
solution of ammonia, were also adversely reported upon but do not call for special comment."
Legal proceedings were instituted under the Food and Drugs Act, 1938, section 3, and the Food Substitutes (Control)